Montgomery advises Frederick on incinerator, recycling

Frederick County’s waste management director wants to expand recycling

For years Frederick County has been struggling to handle the piles of garbage produced by a growing population. A 2005 student recommended that commissioners build an incinerator that would burn trash and convert that into useable energy.

Since then, Frederick County commissioners have visited the Montgomery County Resource Recovery Facility, an incinerator in Dickerson. And two county officials traveled to Europe in April to tour incinerators in seven countries.

Consideration has also been given to expanding the county’s recycling program to more residents.

Michael Marschner, director of Frederick County’s Utilities and Solid Waste Management, wants the county to expand recycling beyond the 53,000 households already receiving curbside pick-up.

More people recycling means the county would have less garbage to haul to landfills in Virginia. Between 95 percent and 100 percent of the county’s 292,000 ton of trash is transported from the Reichs Ford Road facility in Frederick to landfills in Virginia each year.

As Marschner continues his work to solve Frederick County’s trash problems, he took the opportunity to have officials from neighboring Montgomery County visit with commissioners Monday.

Montgomery has operated its Dickerson incinerator since 1995, at a cost of $33 million annually.

Residue or ash that remains from the burning process is loaded into 20-foot steel containers and shipped by rail to a landfill in Brunswick, Va.

The plant is permitted by the state to process no more than 657,000 tons of trash per year. Anything more than that would be shipped to Virginia, but that has yet to happen.

Paisner said Montgomery County has been trying to get more of its 1 million residents to recycle. The county’s goal in 2000 was for 50 percent of residents to recycle. Seven years later, about 43 percent of residents recycle.

Officials believe that with more residents recycling, it is less likely the facility would reach capacity.

‘‘Our goal was to try and control our trash in a reasonable way,” Locke said. ‘‘We still have a significant goal as far as recycling.”

Also during the Monday meeting, Frederick County commissioners asked whether Montgomery officials believe they made the right decision in building an incinerator.

‘‘Personally, I believe yes,” Praisner answered. ‘‘Obviously, there is going to be some people who would disagree.”